The Ohio Secretary of State will put Chuck Baldwin on the ballot with the “Constitution Party” label. He had already qualified as an independent, and because the party has a case pending to obtain that label, the Secretary of State decided to simply approve the idea, without waiting for any more court involvement. The decision is sensible, since the courts have already put other parties on the ballot.

Another issue in the Constitution Party case concerns whether Robert Owens may have the word “independent” next to his name. He is a candidate for Attorney General. Although he happens to be a member of the Constitution Party, he doesn’t want to be identified on the ballot as a party nominee; he wants “independent”. State law permits petitioning candidates to have “no-party candidate” on the ballot, but Owens is litigating for the more appealing “independent” label.